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Kiritsugu has unbelievable strength of will, yet this is accented by the great tragic choices he must make. The bit with Ilya... that was simply amazing. I would never have expected to see Kiritsugu do something like that.

And Saber's despair... you can just hear how strained her voice is, as she tries, with absolute futility, to resist the command spell to destroy the grail.

As a person who hasn't read the novels, I also feel that the conflict between Saber and Berserker was rushed in how it was resolved, but it didn't bother me too much. The rest of the episode made up for it. It's a shame, but there's not much that can be done about it.

Kirei not punching that bullet with his fist (bitchslapping it was a little less GAR).
Not making clear Kiritsugu was regenerating from exploded heart (and other damage to his ribs when Kirei killed him) because of Avalon (and using time accel at max thanks to it, even like that he could barely keep up the speed Kirei was going. What a freaking monster).
Berserker vs Saber. What was that? Nothing was clear. How underwhelming. That battle was Zerker owning Saber in the novels. Because you know, Lancelot is pretty much unbeatable in her time. She knew it. She won because he wanted to die like that and because Kariya ran out juice.
Saber's eyes flash golden/murky yellow when Gilgamesh blocks her way to the Grail. Where was that?

Spoiler for boo:

The illusion and the Kirei vs Kiritsugu battle was okay otherwise.

__________________

"Who would understand you after I die? Who else would march forward by your side?"

Everything in the episode was superb and awesome. What wasn't awesome was what wasn't there. How could they jip us of the last conflict with Lancelot like that? Gotta wait for the blue rays I guess? I almost wish I didn't see this episode now so I could've enjoyed the better product later. This is just so lame. Should've just been a double episode IMO.

I'll hold on voting until the blue-ray version is released because it felt like ten to fifteen minutes were missing. Otherwise, the Evangelion-like bad trip was splendid and the better part of the episode, and I talk as one who loved that fight between Kirei and Kiritsugu.

In many ways, it was outstanding. However, even from my perspective (that of an anime-only watcher) it did feel rushed to me. Primarily for that reason, I took off a point.

But then I read this thread, after making my episode vote, and I'm honestly stunned to read how much was left out. Wow...

Unless this is a marketing scheme to get more people to buy the Blu-Rays/DVDs (i.e. "You can only see the full Saber/Berserker fight here!"), it's really hard to understand why ufotable would take this approach. Especially when if you cut out a certain loli-Rin episode from the first cour, you'd have the TV time for it...

All of that being said, it was a very gripping watch, and the intensity of the episode was deliciously palpable. Superbly directed.

And, I have to admit, while I felt a bit sorry for Kiritsugu, there was a sort of poetic justice to the Grail throwing his own "The Ends Justify the Means" logic right back into his face. What made it especially poignant is how the Grail is essentially right: Where human life is abundant, conflict is inevitable. It's part of human nature, as some of us (including myself) have argued in recent weeks. Frankly, Kirei was right about the naivety of Kiritsugu's wish.